Kalfus's novel of post-9/11 anomie and family disintegration is barbed with hidden punch lines and embedded pockets of horror-clad humor. The tangled, slow-motion journey toward divorce of a harried, bitter upper-middle-class New York couple unfolds in the midst of a city under siege, during a time of catastrophic political and social upheaval. Respecting the nature of Kalfus's novel, Boles treads carefully and lightly. He rarely interferes in the hurtling motion of Kalfus's prose, studded as it is with asides and stray thoughts, preferring instead to stand back and allow the words room to breathe. Reading in a detached, polite manner, he grants Marshall and Joyce the opportunity to hang themselves with their own words, knowing they will need no assistance whatsoever from his performance. A simultaneous release with the Ecco hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 3). (Sept.)